


Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed

by Anonymous



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dark Lily Evans Potter, Dark Severus Snape, Dark Sirius Black, F/M, Godric's Hollow, Inspired By Tumblr, Nursery Rhymes, a dark AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:48:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23760322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: October 31st 1981.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Lily Evans Potter/Severus Snape
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53
Collections: Anonymous





	Here Comes a Candle to Light You to Bed

**Author's Note:**

> This fic uses the old English nursery rhyme [Oranges and Lemons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oranges_and_Lemons), and is inspired by [this Tumblr post](https://snapescapades.tumblr.com/post/615770057342124032/p-unsure-how-to-unickify-the-canon-jily-but).

“ _Oranges and lemons_ ,” sang Lily, “ _say the bells of St. Clement’s._ ” 

Harry was teething and only Lily’s singing seemed to soothe him. She walked slowly from the kitchen and through the hallway, her bare footsteps soft on the floorboards of the cottage in Godric’s Hollow.

“ _You owe me five farthings, say the bells of St. Martin’s._ ”

James came running down the stairs, his thudding steps startling Harry. Lily frowned and bounced Harry in her arms.

“ _When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey._ ”

James had his wand between his teeth as he looked through a cupboard. Crouching down, he pulled out neatly folded linens then shoved them back in a mess. He left the room and took off back up the stairs, each pounding step filling the cottage as his boots slammed against the bare wood treads.

“ _When I grow rich. Say the bells at Shoreditch._ ”

Lily followed James upstairs. She all but danced to Harry’s bedroom, avoiding each step which creaked, each floorboard which groaned.

Harry’s eyes were closing for longer each time he blinked.

It wouldn’t be long. 

“ _When will that be?_ ” she sang, glancing at the clock. “ _Say the bells of Stepney._ ”

She lingered in the doorway of Harry’s room and looked across the hallway to see James throwing things on their bed.

“Already rich, Lily,” said James, as he rifled through the wardrobe. “Where’s my invisibility cloak?”

“ _I do not know. Says the great bell at Bow._ ”

Lily smiled and kissed Harry’s cheek when she spotted her shoes under his cot. She put him on the floor, slipped the shoes on, and picked him up again. She whispered apologies and bounced him in her arms, his moment away from her over too quickly to bother him for long. She tugged her wand from her sleeve and held it firm in her hand.

“Always with that song,” said James. “Trust Muggles to come up with a nursery rhyme like that.”

Lily swirled gently across the floor, and when she was near the doorway, she heard James swear. She looked up to see him holding the letter Dumbledore sent thanking him for the cloak.

“Is it too much to ask to get out of here for a bit?” James glanced up at Lily, his eyes passing over Harry, and looked around with disdain. “This place is a mess and I knew it - I knew it! - Dumbledore did say he only wanted the cloak for a few weeks, and that was months ago.”

Lily turned away from the door and blinked rapidly, sniffing as she walked further into the room with Harry.

There was an explosion which shook the cottage to its foundations.

Lily tightened her grip on Harry as she cast a shield around them and the lamps went out. The cloud of dust hit the barrier but still Lily kept her back to the door and pressed her lips to Harry’s hair as she waited. 

James hissed her name as stones crumbled and smashed to the ground nearby.

Turning, she could just make him out by the glow of his shield. His finger to his lips, wand in hand, he crept from the bedroom. She walked out onto the landing.

“What are you doing?” James cried, running to the top of the stairs.

He glanced down and froze, his shield slipping when he caught sight of a dark figure in the hallway, the front of the cottage reduced to rubble.

Lily could see the clear October night. No clouds in the sky, the waxing moon barely visible, the stars glittered bright above them as slates fell from the roof and wooden beams creaked where they were not yet so far destroyed as to be ready to fall.

From the darkness, a voice said, “Lumos Maxima.”

The Lumos filled the cottage with a white glow which cast everyone in a different light, and bounced off the shattered glass like candles scattered amongst the debris.

“Lily, get out of here,” yelled James, as if someone had uttered a Rennervate and unfrozen him.

She saw the slight turn of his foot and the dawning realisation Anti-Disapparation wards were in place.

Curses could bounce and she kept her shield up.

She knew how to keep strong defences.

He knew how to try and act the hero.

“Avada Kedavra,” said Voldemort.

The green jet of light hit James in the chest.

His body fell down the stairs.

Lily lowered her shield.

The Lumos was replaced with orbs of light which floated around the cottage.

“Thank you, my Lord,” she said, cradling Harry against her as she dipped into a curtsy. 

“The pleasure,” said Voldemort, with a smile, "is all mine."

Snape stepped around James’s body and took the stairs two at a time.

“Are you both okay?” said Snape, stroking her back.

“We’re okay,” she said. “Promise.”

“Lily?” called Sirius, picking his way through the debris and surveying the mess. When he passed Voldemort standing with his hands held neatly in front of him, Sirius ducked his head. “My Lord.”

“Harry’s teething and can’t settle,” Lily said to Sirius.

Harry gazed sleepily around the dusty chaos and Lily moved him onto her hip so she could hold the banister and walk down stairs.

Snape went into Harry's bedroom to retrieve the bag Lily had prepared, and Sirius levitated the body out of Lily’s path.

Sirius held out his hand and helped Lily down the last few steps where fragments of stone lay from the fallout of the blast. He ruffled his godson's hair and gave Lily a quick hug.

When Snape joined Lily downstairs she turned to him, and ignoring Sirius rolling his eyes, she pressed her lips to Snape’s. 

“Can we go home?” she asked.

It had been too long.

“My Lord?” said Snape, looking at Voldemort. 

“But of course,” said Voldemort, and he lifted the wards.

Snape nodded, and taking Lily’s hand, guided her through the wreckage.

"Remus sends his love," said Sirius, as he wandered through the cottage, levitating broken pieces of furniture and casting a Lumos across the shadows.

Lily laughed and Sirius blew her a kiss.

"The werewolf has probably stayed up to see you both," said Snape. 

Lily realised then it would be hours before Harry was in bed. Everyone would want to see him.

“ _Here comes a candle to light you to bed,_ ” she sang, softly, stepping over her husband’s body and wondering idly if Harry might nap, “ _and here comes a chopper to chop off your head._ ” 

Sirius chuckled and Voldemort looked on with amusement as Lily’s words were carried on the cold night air and Harry closed his eyes. 

“Ready to Apparate?” asked Snape.

Lily nodded, then glanced back at the cottage. She leant against Snape and held his hand tight. She was safe with her two loves; one beside her and one in her arms; father and son.

“ _Chip chop chip chop,_ ” she sang, her breath turning to mist, “ _the last man is dead._ ”


End file.
